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César asks if I can write a little about Acadian French and Chiac on OffQc.
I haven’t spent enough time around speakers of Acadian French to be able to do here what I do with Québécois French. But what if we took a look from time to time at some of Lisa LeBlanc’s music? In this way, maybe you can infer certain things about Lisa LeBlanc’s variety of French without me having to explicitly say things like “this is Acadian.”
First, let’s return to Lisa LeBlanc’s song Câlisse-moi là. (You can read what câlisse-moi là means here.) We’ll look at another song of hers farther down.
In this song, you’ll very clearly hear the “aww” sound made by the accented â when Lisa pronounces the word câlisse. This sound is also used in Québec. It’s the sound you’ll hear in words like pâtes, fâché and ramasser.
There are three things in this song that strike me as less Québécois and more the variety of French spoken by Lisa LeBlanc, who, remember, is not from Québec but New Brunswick:
1. so
2. j’te bette
3. rolled r
1. so
We looked at Lisa’s use of the word so in her chorus here. Remember, the Québécois say faque instead of so, or at least this is the case in cities like Montréal and Québec. You can also hear so among franco-Ontarian speakers who live farther away from the borders of Québec.
2. j’te bette
In one line, Lisa sings: j’te bette que t’es pas game, or “I bet (you) that you’re not game.” Here, game means “willing,” and this informal usage is also used in Québec. On the other hand, I’d say that the verb most frequently used in Québec in the sense of “to bet” is gager. In Québec, you could say: j’te gage que t’es pas game.
3. rrrrr
Listen to how Lisa pronounces words like rut, vrai and peureux. Can you hear her rolled r? In Montréal, that rolled r used to be in common use up until about the middle of the 1900s. The rolled r today, in Montréal, is associated with older speakers. From what I understand, the rolled r is standard in Acadian French.
Here’s another song by Lisa LeBlanc that you might like: J’pas un cowboy.
Let’s look at these four parts of her song:
1. j’pas
2. pogner
3. tavarne
4. but j’feel
1. j’pas
If you’ve been reading OffQc for a while, you know very well that je suis often contracts to chu. Je ne suis pas un cowboy can be said informally as chu pas un cowboy.
Lisa takes the contraction one step further and pronounces je suis just as a ch sound, which is shown in the title of her song as j’. The j’pas in her title (which means je [ne] suis pas) sounds like chpâ. This can also be heard in Québec.
2. pogner
In one line, Lisa sings about a cowboy hat. She says: pis un chapeau que j’ai pogné à St-Tite, or “and a hat that I picked up in St-Tite.”
St-Tite is in Québec. Every year, there’s a western festival held there.
If you’ve been following along with OffQc for a while, you must be experts in the verb pogner by now, especially in the book title Ah shit, j’ai pogné le cancer written by Maude Schiltz.
The verb pogner, used very frequently in Québec, usually takes on the sense of “to catch.” Here, in this song, we can say it means “to pick up.”
3. tavarne
Listen to how Lisa pronounces taverne. It sounds like tavarne, right? Pronouncing ar instead of er is often associated with older speakers in Québec. For example, to the ears of someone from Montréal, la porte varte est ouvarte (meaning la porte verte est ouverte) sounds rural or spoken by an older person.
The exception, in Québec, is with vulgar words, which conserve the ar sound in all age groups, like marde, tabarnak and viarge.
When Lisa says tavarne (taverne), it rhymes with farme (ferme) in the line before it. It’s unclear to me if this pronunciation is standard in her variety of French, or if she’s chosen this pronunciation as a stylistic element to sound more folksy. I can’t comment on the social perception of the ar sound (as opposed to er) in Acadian French. If you know something about this, feel free to comment.
4. but j’feel
Lisa says: but j’feel toute seule en calvaire, or “but I feel as lonely as hell.” In Québec, “but” is definitely said as mais. This line would sound perfectly québécois said instead as: mais j’feel toute seule en calvaire.
The verb feeler (also spelled as filer) comes to French via English, and is only used informally. J’feel cheap. I feel bad. I feel like a low-life. J’feel pas ben. I don’t feel good.
We saw in entry #803 (Ma vie, c’est de la marde) the expression en esti, where the comic strip character says: il fait beau en esti, or “it’s fucking nice out.” The expression en calvaire works the same way: j’feel toute seule en calvaire.
There are other elements for us to look at in this song, but let’s leave some stuff for future entries! 😉
To find lyrics through Google, use the French word paroles + name of song and artist.
paroles j’pas un cowboy lisa leblanc
paroles câlisse-moi là lisa leblanc
As someone who has lived with chiac speakers, I can add a few things.
“And” is “pis,” “faque” is “so,” and “mais” is but. I’ve never heard a chiac speaker say “faque” or “mais” in a coloquial speech.
The pronoun “je” is often pronounced as “èj”.
There is a whole lot more. If anyone is interested, check out Radio Radio. They rap entirely in chiac.
Thanks, Wil.
Yes, I’m sure there’s a whole lot more! I’ll admit that I was a little surprised when I first discovered the use of but. I’m looking forward to more surprises!
I’ll have to listen again, but I’m pretty sure I remember hearing both mais and but in J’pas un cowboy.
Excellente analyse! Tes commentaires sont très justes! Il y a aussi le « moi », que Lisa LeBlanc prononce [mwâ], ce qui est peu commun au Québec, excepté peut-être en Gaspésie (dans les chansons de Kevin Parent, par exemple)… Toujours un plaisir de lire ton blogue! 🙂
Ah oui, c’est vrai! On l’entend très clairement ce «mouâ» dans Câlisse-moi là. Merci, Charles!
Muy interesante. Lo que más me llama la atención es la similitud con los mexicanos (o hispanos) de EU. Ellos también utilizan el “so” como conector
Merci pour tenir compt mes commentaires.!!
Sí, es muy interesante. Más contacto uno tiene con los anglófonos, más probabilidad hay de que se use la palabra so. Veremos otros elementos de sus canciones en el futuro; es interesante comparar las dos variedades principales de francés habladas en Canadá.
Hey Felix…
You really peaked my interest so I turned to Youtube. Youtube has a couple of great videos which shows large differences in French between at least 3 different regions of New Brunswick. It’s worth a listen (and a smile). It’s interesting that NB French hosts such a great variety of French (and I’d love to learn more about the regional differences in French within QC itself).
1) “Brayon” French from the Edmunston Region (NW NB) can be heard at
Some say online that “Brayon” is its own French, physically separated from contact with other NB French by several hours of having to drive across Anglophone regions of NB — but that it’s often grouped in with “Acadien French” because it’s in NB (it’s the type of NB French closest to QC French, but still with its own accent and vocabulary). Edmunston btw is likely NB’s most francophone city, where over 90% of the inhabitants speak French.
Other distinct types of NB French can be heard at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKTGwzVmSJU
2) “General Coastal Fisherman’s French”
3) “Tracadie” French (on the East side of the Acadian Peninsula)
4) “Chiac” French (SE NB, ie: Moncton, Dieppe, Memramcook and Shediac)
It would be great to find videos which demonstrate the regional differences of French within QC itself (and even those in Ontario – I’m told the French in Northern ON is said to have differences compared to Ottawa Valley French for example). I remember once, when I was with a few Quebecers, a couple of people from Saguenay were talking about the size of a dead Raccoon they saw on the “cotteur”. Those from South Quebec had no idea what a “cotteur” was — it was an “accotement” (shoulder of the highway). I’m sure there are many other such examples of regional differences in vocabulary. Another one I’ve ran across is whether or not the plural “s” on the end of “ours” [bears]) is pronounced. Yet another regional difference in QC French, as is the long “aw” drawl which you often make reference to in your blog… This long “aw” drawl is very Montréal — but it’s not as long, deep and drawn out in other regions of QC. It’s one of the best indicators if someone is from Mtl or not.
If you have any insights into regional QC French differences (either vocabulary or pronounciation), I’d be most interested.
Thanks so much and keep up the good work !! Your blog is very unique.
Brad
It is indeed a very interesting area to look at. OffQc is based almost entirely on the variety of French spoken in Montréal, but it would be nice to look at some features from other varieties from time to time, I agree. We’ve been looking a little at Lisa LeBlanc’s lyrics and maybe I can work in some more entries in this direction in the future. Thanks for your very interesting comment.
I’m much more appreciative of this blog, because it has really opened my eyes as to how diverse the French language is in Canada. Merci encore, Felix! 🙂
Great! I learn stuff too by doing OffQc. 😀